


Fool For Your Charms

by coupe_de_foudre



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Pick-Up Lines, College student eugene, Fluff, M/M, Swearing, no beta we die like men, snafu is a hot mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22533676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coupe_de_foudre/pseuds/coupe_de_foudre
Summary: Snafu smirks lazily at the guy before he asks, “So, whaddya want brewing this time, princess?”The endearment has the desired affect as the guy flushes red and ducks his head.“Speak up, darling, my hearing ain't as good as my looks.”
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	Fool For Your Charms

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to write this after realising that there's not nearly enough coffee shop aus in this fandom. This is far from good but I couldn't get the idea out of my head until I wrote it down so...hopefully it at least makes you smile? xD
> 
> Absolutely no disrespect meant in this, this is purely based on the tv show. 
> 
> Happy reading <3

“Fucker,” Snafu hissed out, slamming his palm against the hot metal of the coffee machine until a steady flow of liquid ran out. With a self-satisfied huff, he continued mixing the second drink. It’s not like he was in any particular rush to get the order ready; besides his current customers the shop was empty, he just really hated the damn machine sometimes. It was ancient, Snafu wouldn’t be surprised if Burgie told him he found it in some dump. But apparently the regular temperamental attitude of the thing wasn’t good enough reason to upgrade.

  
Turning around, Snafu slid the two, now full, cups across the counter to the woman waiting flashing her a brief but friendly smile. The moment the door chimed behind her, he whipped back to face the coffee machine – currently steaming and making a strange clicking sound – and snarled. 

  
“Piece'a shit, wotcha go an' do that for?” he grumbled, banging the parts around as he wiped it down with a wet cloth. 

  
Any other day and Snafu may not have been so pissed off by a small bit of spilled coffee, but today had already dragged and he still had a good hour or two left. Alone too, because Burgie reckoned they wouldn’t be getting too many customers and supposedly had some stupid family dinner planned. 

  
“Jus’ you wait,” he spoke to the machine, glaring at the blinking red light that made him feel like he was being mocked, “One'a these days imma throw you outta here when Burgie ain't lookin’. Get ya replaced by some fancy new thing. Pay for it outta my own goddamn wages if I ‘ave to-"

  
“Sorry, am I disturbing something?” a sheepish voice piped up behind him and Snafu spun round quick enough to see stars. Across the counter stood a young man – probably Snafu's age, maybe younger – with fiery hair and equally red cheeks. 

  
“Nah,” Snafu cleared his throat, nonchalance taking over his original shock, “What can I get ya?”

  
The cute redhead glances up, eyes scanning over their offer of drinks before seeming to settle on one. “I’ll just take a latte, extra milk. Please.” He adds, as an afterthought. 

  
Snafu smirks, already starting on the drink. “Don’t like ‘em strong?” he teases, glancing sideways to catch the red blush deepen on the guy’s face. He doesn’t get a response, disappointingly, so he shrugs. “’s'okay, not many people can handle it.”

  
Ginger (that’s what Snafu's decided to refer to the nervous guy as) sends a questioning look his way, as if trying to decipher what exactly Snafu was referring to then. That just widens his smirk.

  
Finally handing Ginger his drink, he takes the money offered his way and places the order on the till. “I’m gonna assume ya don’t want sugar? Reckon ya sweet 'nuff already.” Snafu questions, eyebrow raised as he watches the guy’s reaction. Unfortunately, he doesn’t win a smile. Just a half-hearted grunt that could pass as a laugh if one wanted it to. Ginger was already heading towards a table by the corner before Snafu could tease him any further.

  
The buzz of his phone catches his attention before he has time to consider being bored again. Reaching into his back pocket to pull it out, Snafu reads the new message.

  
_**> Boss Man: if u get bored u can clear out the glass counter** _

  
Snafu rolls his eyes, trust Burgie to have jobs lined up for him without even being at the shop. 

  
_**< tryna get me on my knees again are ya? ;) x** _

  
Before his friend has time to shoot back some snarky reply, Snafu types out another text.

  
_**< don't worry I'm on it** _

  
_**> Boss Man: thanks Snaf** _

  
Snafu doesn’t bother saying anything more, instead hooking his phone up to the shop's speakers and putting a work playlist on low before he heads to the back room. He grabs an old bucket and fills it up with hot, soapy water before picking up a clean cloth and some paper towels and walking back out front. There’s still no other customers, just the guy sat in the corner quietly typing something on a small laptop between sips of his drink. Snafu finds a soft smile on his face noticing the way the guy’s pink tongue sticks ever so slightly out of the side of his mouth whilst he concentrates on his screen. It’s oddly endearing.

  
Dropping lightly to the ground, water sloshing over the rim of the bucket, Snafu curses harshly under his breath. He pulls the food on display out from under the till, being careful not to drop anything as he reaches and places it on the counter behind him. Once the two shelves are cleared, Snafu gets the work with wiping every surface down, using the paper towels to buff the glass until it’s crystal clear. The process is so repetitive that it calms him instantly and he soon finds himself lost in a trance, only really paying attention to the music echoing around him enough to hum vaguely in tune.

  
He definitely doesn’t notice the approaching footsteps or the legs stood in directly in front of his gaze until someone clears their throat and causes him to shoot up fast enough that he crack his head against the counter above him. 

  
“Ah, fuck! Shit! Sonuva bitch!” Snafu aims his complaints towards the attacker (not that it could talk back), hands instinctively cradling his forehead where a dull throb pulsates. 

  
The cutie from the corner looks guilty, hand reaching out towards him before he retracts it. “Fuck, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you."

  
Snafu tries his best to laugh it off but it fades into a pained hiss of breath. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, cher. It’s the fucking counter’s fault innit?” 

  
The response must not have been what the guy had expected because his eyes widen before a small laugh slips from his mouth. Snafu feels his stomach flip, but he blames it on the pain in his head. Definitely not on the pure innocence of the guy’s laugh – well, it was practically a giggle.

  
Leaning against the side of the till, Snafu smirks lazily at the guy before he asks, “So, whaddya want brewing this time, princess?” 

  
The endearment has the desired affect as the guy flushes red again and ducks his head to break eye contact for a moment. Sliding his empty mug towards Snafu, he mumbles something that Snafu doesn’t quite catch. 

  
“Speak up, darling, my hearing ain't as good as my looks.”

  
Surprisingly the cutie actually rolls his eyes at that and looks back up at Snafu with an almost exasperated look in his eyes. “I’ll just take the same again.”

  
“Alright.”

  
They don’t speak whilst Snafu makes the drink, the coffee machine luckily not testing him this time. _Good,_ he thinks, _I’m in enough pain as it is right now._

  
Eventually sliding the latte across to the guy, Snafu isn’t surprised to see that he’s still blushing lightly from his earlier comment. 

  
“Thanks.” the guy mumbles, already heading back to his table. Snafu watches, elbows propped up on the counter in front of him, when he gets an idea. He wonders how long it’ll take to get the guy to crack. To give him a proper full-blown smile or laugh. Or just get so fed up of him that he leaves. 

  
It’s not like Snafu has much else to do for the rest of his shift. He may as well have a little fun.

  
Quickly putting the day's food back into the counter, he leaves one plate out. It’s just a simple square of shortbread, but everyone likes this stuff. And Snafu knows for a fact that their shortbread is delicious because Florence bakes it herself. That woman can put together a mean biscuit. 

  
Navigating his way past the bucket of water and cloths, Snafu heads towards the guy’s table. He’s not noticed, unsurprisingly, since the guy has his face almost pressed against his laptop screen as he reads something. From here, Snafu can see the many open textbooks scattered over the table too, alongside a page of messily scrawled out notes. 

  
Must be a college student.

  
Placing the plate of shortbread on an unoccupied spot of the table, the guy startles and looks up accusingly at Snafu. Snafu raises his hands to his head, smirking and stepping back a bit until he’s leaning against the back of a chair. Eyes still trained on the guy's, he waits for him to speak first.

  
“What’s this for?” 

  
Snafu shrugged, “It’s gonna be thrown out soon anyways, thought I’d be a gentleman.” The look that the guy shoots him speaks disbelief. Clearly the guy doesn’t believe Snafu could pull of the gentleman role. With a chuckle, Snafu crosses his arms and hooks one ankle over the other, fixing the guy with his best seductive look. “So, aside from being _drop-dead gorgeous_ , what d'ya do for a living?” 

  
The guy doesn’t laugh. But he does at least answer Snafu’s question. “Uh, I don’t really work yet. I’m studying ornithology. And yeah, I know, it’s a stupid course to choose and you probably think I’m a total idiot-”

  
“Never said tha', cher.”

  
Ginger frowned, scrutinizing Snafu's face as if searching for proof that he was lying. Coming up short, he seemed lost for words. “Oh...”

  
“Think it’s pretty cool, actually. Never went to college myself. Gotta admire your commitment.” Before the guy could reply, Snafu started walking back towards the counter. He busies himself with clearing up the mess he left from early until thinking what else to say to the guy. By now, Ginger has gone back to his laptop and is typing something out but he soon stops when hearing Snafu's ridiculous question. “Lemme guess, your name's Gillette, right? ‘cos you’re the best a man can get.” Sending an exaggerated wink towards the guy, he wondered what his response would be but unfortunately didn’t get to find out because at that exact moment the door chimed as a woman walked in.

  
Dragging his eyes from Ginger in the corner, smiling to himself when he heard the faint tap of keys again, he took the woman’s order. Seemingly his luck with the machine was short-lived (as per usual). Hot steam hissed out of the pipe, followed by a constant flow of coffee despite Snafu finishing with it and topping the cup with milk and a sprinkle of chocolate dust. He handed the woman her drink with a tense smile, not missing her questioning glance towards the malfunctioning machine behind him. She took a tentative sip of her coffee on the way out of the shop but must've deemed it satisfactory, judging by the smile on her face.

  
Swivelling back towards the machine, he stuck his tongue out at it. “Can’t believe you’re a bigger fuck up than me.” he grumbled, rushing to grab some cloths and towels to mop the mess up as well as prevent any more. He just needed to find the spanner, then he could get it to stop.

  
“Having trouble over there?” a voice called out and Snafu glanced up to find Ginger smirking at him. 

  
Not replying instantly as he tried to fix the machine, but ending up just bashing it with the spanner in frustration, Snafu groaned. “Don’t s'pose you’re any good with yer hands?” he drawled, shooting a look over his shoulder. 

  
Ginger shrugged, “Not really." 

  
“Shame,” Snafu sighed, ducking to get a better angle of the faulty pipe and walking it with as much restrained strength he could find. Finally, it shut off, only leaving a relatively destructive mess behind. “That's better.” 

  
“Impressive." Ginger remarked.

  
Snafu scoffed, hands on his hips and shirt splattered slightly in hot coffee. “That’s nothing. Got more impressive tricks up my sleeve, cher.” Ginger just grunted in response, mind already taken by his work again.

  
The next ten minutes pass by relatively fast; between dumping dirty cloths into the shop’s washer and mopping the whole shop floor, Snafu doesn’t have much time to be thinking of much to say. Ginger doesn’t seem to mind.

  
It’s not until he’s finished, leaning his weight on the counter and scrolling his phone lazily, that he gets another idea of how to wind the guy up. He’s sure a shit-eating grin takes over his face as he types something onto his phone and lights up when he’s greeted with a long list of results.

  
“Hey,” he calls across the shop, catching the guy's attention. Not that the guy looks up, but Snafu can see how his typing slows. “I hope you know CPR, ‘cos you’re takin' my breath away.”

  
No response. Not even the hints of a smile. Snafu scrolls further.

  
“You must be made of cheese.” That at least gets the guy to look up, eyebrows furrowed together in obvious confusion. “’cos you’re looking Gouda right now.”

  
“Fuck off,” Ginger mutters, but Snafu can see how he clenches his jaw to fight a smile. 

  
“You're the reason Santa even has a naughty list.” Snafu continues, smirk wide and eyes fixed on the guy. “Is your name Google, ‘cos you ‘ave everythin' I've been searchin' for.” It’s clear now that the guy’s trying really hard not to be amused, which, of course, only stirs Snafu on more. “If you were words on a page, you'd be the fine print.”

  
He earns himself another eye roll for that one. “It's obvious you’re just looking those up.”

  
Snafu fakes insult, mouth agape but eyes sparkling. “How dare you! Is my game not strong ‘nuff for ya?” 

  
“It's pretty weak.” Ginger teases.

  
“That hurts, cher. Cuts deep." Snafu laughs, hand on his heart. “Fine, lemme come up with my own.”

  
Ginger does, pausing his work to watch Snafu closely as he racks through his mind for the worst pick up line he could think up.

  
Eyes fixed on the guy's, Snafu deepens his southern accent. “You must be a campfire, ‘cos you’re super hot an' I want s’more.”

  
Finally, after probably an hour of trying, Snafu is graced with the pleasure of witnessing Ginger smile properly. His mouth splits into a carefree grin, eyes shining with amusement, and Snafu honestly thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. He probably stared too long because the smile soon vanishes, replaced by a shy blush as the guy ducks his face from sight. Snafu feels his heart drop in disappointment.

  
“Awe, c'mon, cher.” he whined playfully, but the guy just mumbles something Snafu can’t catch before going back to ignoring him.

  
That doesn’t stop Snafu from staring though, his mind still replaying the cute smile over and over. He wonders why the guy is so shy, whether he’s just not used to the attention. Which, frankly, is a disgrace because he’s by far the most adorable guy Snafu has ever set eyes on. Anyone who doesn’t agree must clearly be blind.

  
Not realising how long he stood and stared at the guy, Snafu is surprised when he’s spoken to again. “Take a picture, why don't you? It'd last longer.”

  
Snafu chuckled, trying to still his heart as the guy brought his mug over. This time, there was a soft glint in his eyes as he smiled at Snafu. Which most definitely didn’t nearly have Snafu weak at the knees. The sound of a mug on the counter snaps Snafu from his on-going mental crisis and he shakes his mind clear. It’s then that he notices the guy has packed his stuff up and has a backpack slung over one shoulder.

  
“Leavin' so soon?” 

  
Ginger gestures outside, where the sky had turned a deep purplish-blue. “Reckon I should head home before it gets any later.”

  
Snafu hums, dumping the guy’s mug into the sink. He holds his gaze for a while longer before throwing his usual lazy smirk back on. “See ya t'morra?”

  
He never gets a reply though; the guy leaves him with a coy wink before walking out, letting the door shut abruptly behind him. Snafu has to stand for a moment just to process the whole night’s events, disbelief probably evident on his face. That was certainly not any one of the outcomes he'd expected.

  
He starts to close now, since it’s obviously much later than Snafu realised. Flipping the sign on the door and dimming the lights, he sets about throwing away any leftovers (well, after wrapping up what he wants to take home and shoving it in his bag). He dumps any rubbish out the back, making sure it’s tidy. The back room needs a quick clear too, but that doesn’t take him long. He’s just about to step out front again when he thinks twice and grabs one of the bright yellow post-it notes from the desk and scrawls out a short message about the machine fucking up again. Sticking the note to till for Burgie to see when he opens tomorrow, Snafu wonders if he should mention upgrading again. He figures he'll bring it up when he next sees his friend.

  
Grabbing a cloth, Snafu goes round the shop wiping down the tables and straightening the chairs. It’s not until he gets to the table where the guy had been sat that he notices a piece of torn paper – it looks like the corner of a textbook – with a number written down in messy red handwriting. Snafu finds it fitting, smiling to himself as he pockets the number and finishes up with his chores.

  
As he locks up, barely more than twenty minutes later, Snafu reaches for the paper and quickly copies the phone number into his phone. Unsure how to start the conversation, it takes him a moment to start typing.

  
_**< do you have a name? or can i call you mine ;)** _

  
_**> unknown number: fuck off** _

  
Snafu finds himself laughing again, smiling down at his phone as he walks down the street. 

  
_**< appalling language, cher** _

  
_**> unknown number: I didn’t give you my number just for you to keep making awful pick up lines** _

  
_**< well then what'd ya gimme it for?** _

  
**_> unknown number: figured you were gonna ask me on a date eventually_ **

  
_**> unknown number: when you didn’t I guess I wasn’t sure what else to do** _

  
Snafu's actually taken a back by the honest reply. It’s probably the most outright the guy’s been all night. He wasn’t wrong; Snafu had considered asking him on a date but then he’d chickened out when he realised the guy may not be interested. Clearly, he was wrong.

  
**_ < sorry Ginger didn’t realise ya wanted a date. how's Friday @ 7 sound?_ **

  
It’s a minute or two before Snafu gets a text back. 

  
_**> unknown number: it sounds good** _

  
_**> unknown number: name's Eugene btw** _

  
Eugene. Huh. Not what Snafu had been expecting. Though, now that he thinks about it, he’s not really sure what name he’d actually been thinking. In fact, now, nothing but Eugene seems right for the cute redhead. Editing his contacts before replying, Snafu realises he’s been smiling since he left the shop. What was this boy doing to him?

  
_**< okay, gene x** _

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, thank you so much!! I'd really appreciate a kudos/comment. 
> 
> I have an idea of a different coffee shop au universe in mind but I'm not sure if or when I'll write it and whether anyone would even be that interested. Thank you for reading this though!! Love you all <3
> 
> (also if anyone writes their own coffee shop au pls pls PLS send me it bc I'd love the read it!!)


End file.
